The two of them walked across the water and arrived at the center of the lake. After climbing up along the thick tree roots, the hanging vines and branches rustled as they swayed, as if welcoming the Yu Shizun home.
The tree trunk was as wide as an ordinary house, and its height was staggeringly tall. An arched doorway had been carved into the base, sealed by a water restriction that prevented anyone from peering inside.
Yan Zhen had visited the Yu Shizun’s cave mansion several times before, but he had never entered the chamber within the tree trunk. Even the script made no mention of its layout, which only fueled his curiosity.
With a wave of her hand, the Yu Shizun dispelled the restraint seal at the entrance and stepped into the tree hollow. Yan Zhen’s heart raced with excitement as he quietly followed behind her.
The tree hollow was vast and tall, resembling the interior of a tower. Lake water poured in from all around, leaving only a single pathway from the entrance leading straight to the center.
At the end of the path lay a circular platform inscribed with an intricate high-tier mystic array. A meditation cushion sat at its core, bathed in a beam of light shining down from the canopy above.
The air was filled with water spiritual rhymes, and specks of blue light danced about like fireflies, creating a mesmerizing sight.
There were no beds, cabinets, tables, or chairs—just this empty space.
Yan Zhen wasn’t surprised. Yu Shizun’s cave mansion in the rear mountains of the Yu Family had been similarly simple and austere, consisting of nothing more than a single meditation cushion.
The moment he stepped inside, Yan Zhen felt his fire mystic power suppressed intensely, as if it were mired in quicksand and unable to circulate freely. The deeper he went, the worse it got. By the time he reached the platform, his five extreme flames suddenly stirred on their own, shielding him from the omnipresent water spiritual rhymes.
These spiritual rhymes were precious cultivation resources for water-attribute mystic cultivators, but they were pure poison to fire-attribute ones like him. Once they seeped in, expelling them would take considerable effort.
Yu Shizun turned around, her beautiful eyes sparkling like stars as she gazed at the five flames enveloping Yan Zhen’s body.
“A technique that can wield multiple extreme flames at once is truly extraordinary.”
Yan Zhen scratched his cheek, not bothering to hide it.
“It’s called the Emperor Flame Technique, an emperor-grade technique born in the Fire Refining Starry Sky.”
Yu Shizun pondered for a moment before flicking her sleeve. All the water spiritual rhymes in the tree hollow plunged into the lake below, and the suppression Yan Zhen felt vanished instantly.
“Yu Shizun, was that a ‘domain’?”
“Not quite. Just the lingering spiritual rhymes of one.”
—Whoa, and even just the remnants suppressed me that badly!
Yan Zhen marveled inwardly.
The hallmark of a supreme powerhouse was their domain, an advanced application of spatial power.
Once deployed, even the lowest first-rank supreme could effortlessly crush a nine-star Mystic Venerable.
Within a domain, laws took form—that was the realm of a half-saint. One step further, and the domain intertwined with those laws to forge an independent cave heaven world, allowing one to become a true saint!
The Fire Refining Starry Sky was essentially a cave heaven world created jointly by the Ancient Seven Saints.
Yu Shizun didn’t elaborate further. After all, these were concerns for nine-star Mystic Venerables, and Yan Zhen was merely a nine-star Mystic King—still a long way off.
“Lady Chen Xi asked me to teach you to comprehend rain intent. First, you must understand what intent truly means.”
“In simple terms, intent is nature itself. We mystic cultivators extract a fragment of nature and make it our own—that is comprehending intent.”
“From the Mystic initiate realm onward, one has a chance to grasp intent, but it’s incredibly difficult. The higher your cultivation, the easier it becomes. At the Mystic King or Mystic Lord realms, you can commune with the power of heaven and earth, making it simpler still. As for Mystic Ancestor experts, intent arises naturally; with a mere gesture, they can stir the heaven and earth great momentum. This also ties into forging a supreme domain later on.”
Yan Zhen nodded repeatedly. He knew all this—the script had mentioned it.
Yu Shizun continued.
“You’re a fire-attribute mystic cultivator who wields extreme flames, so comprehending rain intent won’t be easy for you. Even if you succeed, it won’t benefit you much. It’s only for talisman drawing and soul refinement, so my suggestion is to take a shortcut.”
A shortcut? Yan Zhen blinked in confusion, but the Yu Shizun went on.
“My domain is called Rain Falls Over the World. It contains the rain intent I’ve comprehended, and the lingering aura manifests here as these water spiritual rhymes. They can help you grasp rain intent.”
Yan Zhen scratched his head.
“So, how exactly do I do it?”
Yu Shizun raised her hand in indication.
“Use your spiritual power to capture these spiritual rhymes and accumulate them in your sea of consciousness. Once you’ve gathered one hundred and eight in your sea of consciousness, we move to the second stage.”
Oh~ Yan Zhen now understood what she meant by “shortcut.”
“Have a seat first.”
“Alright.”
Yan Zhen obediently sat cross-legged on the meditation cushion. To his surprise, the Yu Shizun circled behind him, sat down, and wrapped her arms around him from behind.
A captivating fragrance unique to the Yu Shizun enveloped him, and he could feel two astonishingly soft mounds pressing against his back. The boy who had just begun to understand such things immediately forgot everything, blushing as he stammered.
“Yu Shizun, this is…?”
Yu Shizun placed her overlapping hands on Yan Zhen’s dantian and said calmly.
“I’ll suppress your extreme flames. Otherwise, even these faint water spiritual rhymes won’t be able to approach you. I could release stronger ones, but you might not withstand them.”
—Got it. Feels kinda weird, though~
“Couldn’t we just seal my cultivation directly?”
“Your body houses three extreme flames ranked too high for me to seal completely.”
The wind-thunder crystal fire, evil spirit dragon breath flame, and rootless earth spirit fire were all far superior to the Yu Shizun in their own right. They were only constrained by Yan Zhen as their “vessel.” If his cultivation were sealed, they would activate on their own and break the seal for him—making it pointless.
Yan Zhen had never imagined his extreme flames could backfire on him like this in certain situations. Talk about awkward.
As he mulled it over, the Yu Shizun urged him on.
“Don’t be such a wilting flower. Settle your mind and start cultivating.”
Though embarrassed, Yan Zhen was no longer the clueless boy he’d once been. He took a deep breath, quickly calmed himself, closed his eyes, formed hand seals, circulated the Ancestral Symbol Scripture, and sent his spiritual power out of body.
Invisible tendrils extended from his brow, reaching out in all directions to capture the drifting water spiritual rhymes.
From behind, the Yu Shizun channeled a misty water Mystic force through her hands. Her supreme aura suppressed Yan Zhen’s extreme flames without hindering his capture of the spiritual rhymes.
Such precise, delicate control was befitting of a supreme powerhouse!
At nearly the same moment, outside the Yu Shizun’s cave mansion, Mentor Yu Xuan, Cai Lian, and Long Ying arrived to pay a visit.
The three women rang the “doorbell” for a long while with no response. Long Ying suggested.
“Yu Shizun might be asleep. I’ll go in and call her!”
Mentor Yu Xuan hesitated.
“Isn’t that a bit rude? What if we disturb Her Supremacy’s cultivation…?”
“Don’t worry, Sister Xuan’er. If the Yu Shizun is cultivating, I won’t bother her.”
“Alright then. It’s in your hands, Your Highness Long Ying.”
Long Ying had reached the Mystic Ancestor realm, and her mastery of spatial talent grew ever more refined. She easily bypassed the restraint seals around the Yu Shizun’s cave mansion and strode inside without a care in the world.
